The History of Painting in Italy, Vol. 3 (of 6): From the Period of the Revival of the Fine Arts to the End of the Eighteenth CenturyLanzi, Luigi
History
The History of Painting in Italy, Vol. 3 (of 6): From the Period of the Revival of the Fine Arts to the End of the Eighteenth Century
Lanzi, Luigi
Painting -- Italy -- History
About the same time several Brescian artists greatly distinguished
themselves, although too little known for want of enjoying a
metropolitan city for their sphere of action. Luca Sebastiano, an
Aragonese, who died towards the close of the sixteenth century, was
celebrated, we are told, rather as a fine designer than a painter. An
altarpiece with the initial letters _L. S. A._ has been attributed to
his hand. It is the Saviour represented between two saints, the
composition of which is common; the foldings of the drapery want
softness; but the figures, the colours, and the attitudes are excellent.
I apprehend that, however learned in his art, he would have been anxious
to avoid competition with the two celebrated citizens, of whom we shall
now give some description. The first is Alessandro Bonvicino, commonly
called Moretto of Brescia, who was among the earliest of Titian's
school, to introduce his master's whole style of composition into his
native district. This is clearly seen in his picture of S. Niccolo,
painted in 1532 for the Madonna de' Miracoli, in which he depicted
several figures of children, and of a man presenting them to the saint;
portraits in Titian's best manner. Subsequently attracted by the
composition of Raffaello, as exhibited in some pictures and engravings,
he changed his style, adopting one altogether new, and so rich in its
attractions, that many dilettanti have gone out of their way, and
visited Brescia, for the sole purpose of feasting their eyes with them.
The manner of Raffaello may be as strongly traced as we can imagine
possible for a painter who had never seen Rome; we meet with graceful
features, elegant proportions, if they do not sometimes appear too
slender; accuracy in the attitudes and expression, which, in his sacred
subjects, display, as it were, the peculiar feeling of remorse, of pity,
and even of charity itself. The drapery is diversified, but not
sufficiently select, while all the accessaries of the perspective and
other embellishments are as splendid as in any Venetian artist, although
not lavished with so much profusion; and he displays an exact, diligent,
and delicate hand, which appears, to use a modern expression often
applied, to write what it paints. In regard to colouring, Moretto
pursued a method, which surprises by its combined novelty and effect.
Its chief characteristic consists of a very beautiful play of light and
shadow, not disposed in great masses, but finely tempered and contrasted
with each other. The same degree of art he applies both to his figures
and his skies, where he sometimes depicts clouds whose colours are
contrasted in a similar way. For the most part his grounds are clear and
bright, from which the figures seem to rise with admirable relief. His
fleshy parts often remind us of the freshness of Titian's; in his tints,
moreover, he is more varied than the latter, or any other of the
Venetians. Little azure appears in his draperies, the union of reds and
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